Distributed network time protocol

Abstract

A method and system for enhanced time synchronization with lesser delay and jitter, from a gateway of a network or an external standard time source, over the internet, in a traditional network, including SDN, by NTP clients like newly added devices, spawned VMs and the like, by automatic deployment of the distributed NTP service through DHCP and DNS servers by spawning NTP demons (ntpd), according to the time synchronization requests received, thereby offloading the NTP functionality of the gateway and decreasing NTP traffic.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 obtaining, by at least one Network Time Protocol (NTP) client in a computing node, an internet protocol (IP) address of a spawned NTP daemon (ntpd) or a domain name of the spawned ntpd to synchronize time with; and 
 synchronizing, by the at least one NTP client, time of the least one NTP client with time of the spawned ntpd without the at least one NTP client accessing a gateway of a network, 
 wherein the time of the spawned ntpd is synchronized with the gateway of the network or synchronized with an external time source present over the Internet, wherein the gateway provides Internet access to the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd, wherein the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd are on a same side of the gateway, wherein a same Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) server serves the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd, wherein the at least one NTP client is at least one virtual machine (VM) of a first set of VMs, wherein the spawned ntpd time synchronizes with the first set of VMs, wherein the spawned ntpd is one ntpd of a plurality of spawned ntpds including a second spawned ntpd time synchronizing with a second set of VMs, wherein the first set of VMs and the second set of VMs are spawned by a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller and running on the computing node, and wherein the spawned ntpd and the second spawned ntpd are spawned by the SDN controller and running on a second computing node. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 obtaining, by the at least one NTP client, an available IP address from the same DHCP server in a network node. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , the obtaining the IP address or the domain name comprising:
 receiving, by the at least one NTP client, the IP address or the domain name of the spawned ntpd from a configuration file provided by the SDN controller or from the same DHCP server. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 when the domain name of the spawned ntpd is received by the at least one NTP client:
 obtaining, by the at least one NTP client, the IP address of the spawned ntpd from a Domain Name System (DNS) server in the network node upon sending a DNS query for a NTP server. 
 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the domain name of the spawned ntpd is provided for IP address mapping in the DNS server by the SDN controller. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one ntpd is spawned by the SDN controller or an orchestrator when existing ntpds get overloaded by time synchronization requests from NTP clients. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , the spawned ntpd running in a device different from the gateway. 
     
     
       8. A method, comprising:
 requesting, by at least one Network Time Protocol (NTP) client in a computing node, to synchronize time with an external time source present over the Internet or with a gateway in a network; 
 sending, by the at least one NTP client, an internet protocol (IP) resolution packet to a Domain Name System (DNS) server in a network node, to resolve an IP address of the external time source; 
 obtaining, by the at least one NTP client from the DNS server, an IP address of a time source to synchronize time with; and 
 synchronizing, by the at least one NTP client, time of the least one NTP client with the time source without the at least one NTP client accessing the gateway of the network, 
 wherein the IP address of the time source received from the DNS server is of a spawned NTP daemon (ntpd), and wherein the spawned ntpd synchronizes time with the external time source present over the Internet or with the gateway, wherein the gateway provides Internet access to the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd, wherein the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd are on a same side of the gateway, wherein a same Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) server serves the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd, wherein the at least one NTP client is at least one virtual machine (VM) of a first set of VMs, wherein the spawned ntpd time synchronizes with the first set of VMs, wherein the spawned ntpd is one ntpd of a plurality of spawned ntpds including a second spawned ntpd time synchronizing with a second set of VMs, wherein the first set of VMs and the second set of VMs are spawned by a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller and running on the computing node, and wherein the spawned ntpd and the second spawned ntpd are spawned by the SDN controller and running on a second computing node. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein at least one spawned ntpd is spawned by the SDN controller or an orchestrator. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the spawned ntpd is spawned when NTP clients request for time synchronization with different external time sources. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the spawned ntpd is spawned when existing ntpds get overloaded by time synchronization requests from NTP clients. 
     
     
       12. A system, comprising:
 a computing node; 
 a gateway device; and 
 a processor adapted to execute instructions, wherein the processor and the gateway device is communicably coupled to cooperate, such that the system is configured for:
 obtaining, by at least one Network Time Protocol (NTP) client in the computing node, an internet protocol (IP) address of a spawned NTP daemon (ntpd) or a domain name of the spawned ntpd, to synchronize time with; and 
 synchronizing time of the at least one NTP client with time of the spawned ntpd without the at least one NTP client accessing the gateway device, 
 wherein the spawned ntpd synchronizes time with the gateway device or an external source present over the Internet, wherein the gateway device provides Internet access to the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd, wherein the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd are on a same side of the gateway device, wherein a same Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) server serves the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd, wherein the at least one NTP client is at least one virtual machine (VM) of a first set of VMs, wherein the spawned ntpd time synchronizes with the first set of VMs, wherein the spawned ntpd is one ntpd of a plurality of spawned ntpds including a second spawned ntpd time synchronizing with a second set of VMs, wherein the first set of VMs and the second set of VMs are spawned by a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller and running on the computing node, and wherein the spawned ntpd and the second spawned ntpd are spawned by the SDN controller and running on a second computing node. 
 
 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , the system is further configured for:
 obtaining, by at least one NTP client, an available IP address from the same DHCP server in a network node. 
 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 13 , the obtaining the IP address or the domain name comprising:
 obtaining, by the at least one NTP client, the IP address or the domain name of the spawned ntpd from a configuration file provided by the SDN controller, or from the same DHCP server. 
 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 14 , the system is further configured for:
 when the domain name of the spawned ntpd is received by the at least one NTP client:
 obtaining, by the NTP client, the IP address of the spawned ntpd from a Domain Name System (DNS) server in the network node upon sending a DNS query for a NTP server. 
 
 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 15 , wherein the domain name of the spawned ntpd is provided for IP address mapping in the DNS server by the SDN controller. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 12 , wherein at least one ntpd is spawned by the SDN controller or an orchestrator when existing ntpds get overloaded by time synchronization requests from NTP clients. 
     
     
       18. A system comprising:
 a computing node; 
 a gateway device; 
 at least one external standard time source; and 
 a processor adapted to execute instructions, wherein the processor, the gateway device and the external standard time source is communicably coupled to cooperate, such that the system is configured for:
 requesting, by at least one Network Time Protocol (NTP) client in the computing node, to synchronize time with at least one external standard time source, over internet; 
 sending, by the at least one NTP client, an internet protocol (IP) resolution packet to a Domain Name System (DNS) server in a network node to resolve an IP address of the external standard time source; 
 obtaining, by the at least one NTP client from the DNS server, an IP address of a time source to synchronize time with; and 
 synchronizing, by the at least one NTP client, time with the time source without the at least one NTP client accessing the gateway device, 
 wherein the IP address of the time source received from the DNS server is of a spawned NTP daemon (ntpd), and wherein the spawned ntpd synchronizes time with the standard external time source present over the Internet or with the gateway device, wherein the gateway device provides Internet access to the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd, wherein the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd are on a same side of the gateway device, wherein a same Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) server serves the at least one NTP client and the spawned ntpd, wherein the at least one NTP client is at least one virtual machine (VM) of a first set of VMs, wherein the spawned ntpd time synchronizes with the first set of VMs, wherein the spawned ntpd is one ntpd of a plurality of spawned ntpds including a second spawned ntpd time synchronizing with a second set of VMs, wherein the first set of VMs and the second set of VMs are spawned by a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller and running on the computing node, and wherein the spawned ntpd and the second spawned ntpd are spawned by the SDN controller and running on a second computing node. 
 
 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 18 , wherein at least one spawned ntpd is spawned by the SDN controller or an orchestrator. 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 18 , wherein the spawned ntpd is spawned when NTP clients request for time synchronization with different external time sources. 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 18 , wherein the spawned ntpd is spawned when existing ntpds get overloaded by time synchronization requests from NTP clients.